Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Williams on 2nd mo. 22, 2011 at 3:33pm

Brad

Thank you for starting this thread. I would be really interested to become part of the conversation.

 

Permalink Reply by Brad Ogilvie on 2nd mo. 22, 2011 at 6:50pm

Hi, Karen:  I have been asked about that in other places as well.  I would say two things: first, peace and justice tend to be external, and often outcomes and/or goals, whereas this deep inner simplicity, from a spiritual sense, is something to constantly strive for, with faith (and experience) that it will bring more of those other things to the world not as a goal but as a consequence.  Note: I use the word "experience" as I've been stunned but now convinced of this power.  And, in this experience, I have found that this inner, loving simplicity has resulted in greater peace and justice, not the other way around.  I suspect that there is a lot of overlap with LovingKindness and the Simplicity I am talking about (at William Penn House, we are using the term "Radical Hospitality")

 

Second, just pragmatically and secondarily, I think Friends can use words so often that we become desensitized to their qualities.  For example, "there is that of God in All" is what I have heard most often as the core of Quakerism at workshops and simple polling, but when I see it played out in partisan politics, I wonder.  In 2008, how many McCain supporters would really have been welcomed  at FGC-Friends gatherings, even if all they did was wear a McCain pin, as countless others wore Obama pins?  So, but delving into the depths of Simplicity, I hope we can have new conversations that will then flow through peace/justice.